The Internet is Used 24/7, But Timing Still Matters
Information on web marketing is a dime a dozen. Reports and studies often find things we all already know if we use our common sense. In general, more people are using the Internet to find services and products, the volume of sales is increasing each year, and people are nervous about identity theft. Wow, what a surprise. Let’s take a look at topic you can actually benefit from.
While the Internet is available and used 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, buying trends do not encompass this vast time period. Instead, they are specific to particular periods of the week and year. In general, people are far more likely to take action on a site during the work week and during work hours. When they search for something during this period, they are already motivated to purchase. On weekends or holidays, sale conversion rates will drop as people are more likely to be blowing time just browsing around the Internet.
So, how can you use this information to your benefit? Your communications with clients should be oriented to occur during the week, preferably on a Monday or Tuesday. Your marketing materials should also be oriented to offer incentives for limited time periods, typically one or two days from Monday through Thursday. Finally, you should be sending out email newsletters on Monday evenings, so your prospects can read it when they come to work Tuesday morning. The hassles of Monday should be over, which will make them more receptive. These guidelines apply throughout the year with one exception.
The holiday season on the Internet runs from early November through the end of the third week of December. If you sell products or services that can be tied into the holiday season, you can’t help but make a bundle during this period. Prospects are highly motivated to buy and you need to get in front of them. Email communication should be sent every three days beginning in early November. The first Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend is a huge online sales day. From that point forward, you should be sending different email communications to prospects and former clients on a daily basis. This is your golden time, so get in front of your clients.
There are billions of different aspects of Internet marketing discussed and debated on a daily basis. Take into account timing issues and you can will see an upward trend in your revenues.
Think about this. You are planning to engage in “eCommerce”, to take your business online. So, you need to learn a new set of business rules, a new way of doing things, because online business is “different”, right?
Well, actually, no, not really. You still have a product or service to sell. You still have a store with a shop “window” (your website) and you still need the customers to visit your store, in order to buy whatever it is that you are selling.
The only major difference is that (continuing the analogy) your local store window can only be seen by a small group of people, whereas your online business can be seen by the whole world. By engaging in eCommerce, you can take your business “global”.
For many businesses, this is truly an advantage, representing a wonderful opportunity.
But that is not the case for everyone, particularly for companies who sell a physical , tangible product. When planning to go online, therefore, you should spend some time thinking about your product and exactly who your target market is, because this will be a crucial factor in determining whether your venture is a success or a failure.
What it is that you plan to market on your eCommerce enabled website, and who will want to buy it? Some products will, by their very nature, not be totally suited to a world wide market. Pork based food products for example, will not be popular in Muslim countries, nor will wine, whisky or beer. Sales of open toed sandals may be disappointing in Iceland, Greenland and the frozen polar North.
Secondly, give very careful thought about how you will get your product to the customer. For example, if you were to make laser toner cartridges in Asia (as one of my client companies does) there is absolutely no sense in trying to sell one or two cartridges at a time to a customer in the USA, because of the cost of delivery.
So, if your product is bulky or heavy, selling outside your locale may not be practical.
Furthermore, you need to consider that, whilst most countries use the same Standard International Trade Classification (S.I.T.C) codes for deciding on how much import duty to levy on a particular product, the actual duty to be paid varies from country to country, and such variations can (and will) lead to disputes. Again, using my client as an example, they sold a consignment of toner cartridges to a customer in Finland.
which got held up in Customs for several weeks on arrival in Helsinki, because of a dispute over the Import Duties to be paid.
Whilst this was not the fault of my client or his customer, nevertheless, the result was an unhappy customer, who obviously did not become a regular customer.
Likewise, if you plan on selling a service online, can that service be provided outside your local area in such a way that you still make money? Do you need to have one of your own staff actually work with the customer (in which case, you need to stay local) or can the work be easily subcontracted on a global basis? Would it be easy to find such a local subcontractor capable of supplying your advertised service in such a way that both you and the customer are happy? How much would such a subcontractor cost?
Unless you can get positive answers to all of these questions, then, again, it may pay you to keep your services local, rather than overreaching, in order to become a global player.
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